Smoked mackerel salad on rye bread
Smoked mackerel is best in August as the mackerel has by then become fully grown and is therefore a bit fattier, which makes it perfect to smoke. It can also be quite overpowering in its taste in August if just fried. Mackerel is one of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are vital for good heart and brain health, helping to make the blood less sticky. Serves two.
½ smoked mackerel
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
1 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
100g frisée leaves
salt and freshly ground pepper
To serve:
2 slices of rye bread
5-6 radishes, chopped
Carefully remove and discard all bones and skin from the mackerel and break up the mackerel meat into small pieces.
Mix the mackerel, cucumber, onion, chives, capers, egg and frisée leaves in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve the mixture on rye bread, topped with chopped radishes.
Fishcakes with baked potatoes and asparagus
Wonderful as an everyday supper, or cold with rye bread for lunch. Serves four
500g skinless, boneless salmon (pollack or cod)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp porridge oats
2 tbsp flour
whites of 2 eggs
4 tbsp finely grated carrot
4 tbsp coarsely grated squash
1 tbsp finely chopped lemon thyme
1 tbsp rapeseed oil, for frying
20g butter, for frying
For the baked potatoes and asparagus:
600g small potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 bunch of green asparagus
1 organic lemon, cut into wedges
For the sauce:
250ml yoghurt
6 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
Well ahead, blend the salmon in a food processor. Place it in a bowl, add the teaspoon of sea salt and stir well, then stir in the remaining ingredients. Place the mixture in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Prepare the potatoes for baking: put them in an ovenproof dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and mix well. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until tender.
Put the asparagus and lemon pieces in another ovenproof dish and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Bake them with the potatoes for their last 8 minutes in the oven.
Using a spoon and your free hand, shape the salmon mixture into balls, then pat gently into flattish rounds. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan and cook the fishcakes over a medium heat for 5 minutes on each side.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by mixing the ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve the fishcakes with the potatoes and asparagus, with the sauce served separately.
Leek and goat feta tart on rye pastry
I cook a lot of tarts, but make a dough using quark and rye flour, and I also use a low-fat dairy product instead of cream. Serves four.
For the pastry:
75g wheat flour
175g rye flour
1 tsp salt flakes
75g butter
125g quark or fromage frais
For the filling:
5 thin leeks, cut into slices
1 tsp salt flakes
4 eggs
150g quark or fromage frais
150g goat feta cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper
Begin by making the pastry: sift the flours and the salt together into a bowl, then crumble the butter in with your hands. Mix in the quark or fromage frais. Knead the resulting dough with your hands. Alternatively place everything in the food processor and blend it together. If the dough does not come together, add a little water. Leave to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Towards the end of this time, preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Roll the dough out and use to line a 24cm tart dish, then cover with baking paper and add some dried beans or rice to weight it down. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove the paper with the beans or rice and bake again for 5 minutes more.
While the tart case is in the oven, rinse the leeks well. (Cut the leeks in slices then put them in a bowl of cold water and leave for 5 minutes. Lift out of the water so the grit stays at the bottom of the bowl. You may need to do this twice.) Steam these in a covered sauté pan with a little salted water for about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander.
Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl and add the quark or fromage frais and the feta cheese, then mix in the thyme and the leeks. Pour the mixture into the pre-baked tart and place back in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm with a green salad.
Spring salads
Serve these two salads together with a simple green salad for supper with home-baked bread. Serves four.
Asparagus salad
1 bunch of asparagus
2 lemons
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
Break off the lowest third of each asparagus stalk (save the ends for a vegetable stock or soup) and cut the stalks lengthwise into very thin slices.
Peel one whole lemon, removing all the bitter white pith under the skin. Cut out each segment of lemon flesh by cutting down in between the membranes and the flesh.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden (this takes a couple of minutes and be careful not to let them burn).
Mix the asparagus, lemon segments and pine nuts together in a mixing bowl with the juice of the second lemon and the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spring spelt pasta salad with ground elder pesto
300g spelt pasta
For the ground elder pesto:
100g ground elder, top leaves only
1 small garlic clove, chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil or olive oil
40g almonds
3 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper
Ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria) is a member of the carrot family that generally grows in shady places. Also known as goutweed, goatweed and snow-in-the-mountain, it is said to have been introduced to Britain as a food plant by the Romans and then to Northern Europe by monks in the Middle Ages, who cultivated it as a healing herb. In spring, garden lovers spend a lot of time digging up the plants and disposing of them, but why not pick the top leaves in spring and use them in pestos or salads as you would spinach.
Pick the ground elder fresh in spring only, then rinse in cold water and drain in a colander. Place in a food processor with the other ingredients, except the salt and pepper, and blend to a smooth paste. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper and perhaps more lemon juice.
Boil the spelt pasta in lightly salted water for 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain in a colander and allow it to cool down. When cool, place in a mixing bowl, mix with the ground elder pesto and season again with salt and freshly ground pepper.
If you can't pick ground elder, then use parsley, rocket or dandelion leaves (but you can only use the dandelion in spring).
Smørrebrød with salmon tartare
The permutations of healthy rye bread topped with fresh ingredients are endless. Serving the salmon raw with horseradish is a great combination, providing lots of brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids, protein and minerals. For this treatment it is essential that you have a good supplier to ensure the salmon is very fresh. Serves four
400g very fresh salmon fillet, skinned
2 cucumbers, halved and deseeded
2 tbsp grated fresh horseradish
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp white wine vinegar
6 tbsp chopped chervil, plus 4 sprigs to decorate
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 slices of rye bread
8 crisp lettuce leaves
Cut the salmon fillet into small squares and place in a bowl. Cut the cucumbers into cubes. Add to the salmon with the horseradish, lime juice, vinegar and chopped chervil. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.
Place a slice of bread on each plate, place two lettuce leaves on each slice of bread, then spoon the salmon salad on to the lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with pepper and top with a sprig of chervil.
Salted pollack with beetroot salad
Low in saturated fat, pollack is a good source of riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, magnesium and potassium, and a very good source of protein, vitamin B12, phosphorus and the antioxidant mineral selenium. It is also not being as over-fished as cod. Serves four.
400g skinless pollack fillets
2 tbsp Maldon sea salt or another flaky salt
1 tsp sugar
grated zest from ½ an unwaxed lemon
rye bread, to serve
For the beetroot salad
400g beetroot
4 tbsp grated fresh horseradish
2 tbsp lime juice
200ml low-fat yoghurt
salt and freshly ground pepper
Well ahead, place the fish in a big, deep oven tray with straight sides. Mix the salt, sugar and lemon zest, then spread this mixture on both sides of the fish fillets. Cover the dish and leave it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
To make the beetroot salad, first boil the beetroot in salted water for 30 minutes. Take out of the water and rinse in cold water, then peel and cut into 2cm dice. Mix the beetroot dice with the horseradish, lime juice and yogurt. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
When the fish has marinated for 4 hours, lightly brush the salt mixture off the fish, then cut the fillets into very thin slices. Serve with the beetroot salad and the rye bread.
Baked haddock with a lemon gremolata
Use whole shelled nuts and not blanched ones, as their skins are highly nutritious. Serves four
½ pointed cabbage, shredded
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into slices lengthwise
1 head of fennel in thin slices
800g skinless boneless haddock fillets
juice from 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground pepper
For the gremolata:
1 tsp rapeseed oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp grated zest from an unwaxed lemon
50g almonds, chopped
For the yoghurt sauce
150ml yoghurt
juice from ½ lemon
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
To make the gremolata, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the shallot, lemon zest and almonds. Cook gently for 2 minutes, turn out on to a dish and set aside.
Put the shredded cabbage in an ovenproof dish and mix well. Now place the haddock fillets on top. Pour over the lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Spread the gremolata over the pieces of fish and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Mix the ingredients for the yoghurt sauce, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the haddock straight from the dish, with the sauce.
Mussel and cod stew with vegetables and white wine
This fish stew is tasty and easy to make. Once you've assembled everything, it takes 10 minutes to cook. Mussels are one of the few types of shellfish that are rich in omega-3s, as well as being packed with vitamins and minerals. Serves four
500g mussels
2 celery stalks, cut into slices
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 leeks, well rinsed and cut across into slices
salt and freshly ground pepper
200ml white wine
500g skinless cod fillets, broken into small pieces
spelt bread, to serve
Scrub the mussels thoroughly and tug out any beards that may be hanging from the shells. Discard any broken or open mussels or those that refuse to close when the shell is tapped. Rinse the mussels in cold water a couple of times.
In a large sauté pan, place the celery, carrots and leeks, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the mussels in between and on top of the vegetables. Pour the white wine over the fish and vegetables. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove the lid and place the cod in between the mussels, sprinkle with salt and pepper and let it simmer again for 5 minutes. Serve from the sauté pan with spelt bread. If you don't like mussels, then you can make the stew without and just add a bit more cod.
